This invention relates to wheel balancers and in particular to wheel balancers for controlling the application of power to the motor and responsive to requests for a mounting mode to facilitate mounting of the wheel/tire assembly on the shaft.
The determination of unbalance in vehicle wheels is carried out by an analysis with reference to phase and amplitude of the mechanical vibrations caused by rotating unbalanced masses in the wheel. The mechanical vibrations are measured as motions, forces, or pressures by means of transducers, which convert the mechanical vibrations to electrical signals. Each signal is the combination of fundamental oscillations caused by imbalance and noise.
It is believed that the drive systems for currently available balancers could be improved to aid in operation. For example, prior art balancers typically require the operator to manually rotate the wheel/tire assembly to the desired position for weight placement and/or runout correction. These balancers then use a manual brake or the motor itself to temporarily hold the shaft in the desired position. However, such a system could be improved. Manual rotation to the desired position is less than satisfactory since it requires the operator to interpret the balancer display correctly. Moreover, manual rotation itself is not desirable, since it ties up the operators time and attention. In conventional systems, however, the balancer motor cannot be used to rotate the wheel/tire assembly to the correct position since available motor controllers used in balancers are incapable of performing this function.
Using the motor itself to provide a braking action is not completely satisfactory either. Such braking is normally accomplished by applying rectified alternating current to an AC motor. This method is inherently subject to error. The actual stopping position may be incorrect if the tire is larger than average or turning too fast for the xe2x80x9cbrakexe2x80x9d to respond. Moreover, although currently available motor braking systems stop the wheel in approximately the correct position, they do not actually hold the tire in position since the motor would heat up if the xe2x80x9cbrakexe2x80x9d was left on. With conventional equipment, a wheel/tire assembly with sufficient static imbalance to overcome its own inertia, therefore, can roll away from the braked dynamic weight position as soon as the braking energy is released. In addition, electrical braking systems are usually of little use when power is removed from the circuit, as could occur should a power failure take place.
Currently available balancers could also be improved in another way. Presently, the balancer shaft position is sensed and the resulting signal is supplied to the control circuit. The control circuit typically analyzes the signal using software to determine if certain conditions (excessive rpm, excessive acceleration, etc.) exist. These systems are not foolproof, and could be improved.
Even when a wheel/tire assembly is balanced, non-uniformity in the construction of the tire as well as runout in the rim can cause significant vibration forces as the wheel rolls under vehicle load. Most tire manufacturers inspect their tires on tire uniformity machines and grind rubber off the tires as required to improve rolling characteristics of the tires. Even after this procedure, tires will often produce vibration forces (not related to imbalance) of 20 pounds as they roll on a smooth road. To put this in perspective of balancing, a 0.8 ounce balance weight is required to produce a 20 pound vibration force on a typical wheel traveling at 70 mph.
Prior art balancers are also not well equipped to take into account and correct for variations in uniformity of the wheel rim and the tire. It would be desirable, for example, to place a measured amount of imbalance in a wheel to counter tire non-uniformity forces or to detect and mark the position on a tire which should be matched to a corresponding position on the rim to reduce vibration due to non-uniformity of either or both. To the extent that presently available balancers do measure rim and tire runout, it is believed that the information they acquire is not particularly useful to the operator. In particular, presently available balancers which do measure runout generally display that runout to the user in the form of sine waves referenced to some arbitrary point. For a conventional system, which typically measures radial runout of both rims, this results in two (basically incomprehensible) sine waves. Such a system could be improved.
Among the various objects and features of the present invention is a wheel balancer with improved performance.
Another object is the provision of such a wheel balancer with an improved drive circuit.
Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.
Briefly, in a first aspect of the present invention, a wheel balancer includes a shaft adapted for receiving a wheel/tire assembly, the shaft having a longitudinal axis and being rotatable about the axis so as to rotate a wheel/tire assembly removably mounted thereon, a rotation sensor for measuring rotation of the shaft about its longitudinal axis, a vibration sensor operatively connected to the shaft for measuring vibrations resulting from imbalance in the wheel/tire assembly, a motor operatively connected to the shaft for rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis, thereby rotating the wheel/tire assembly and a control circuit for controlling the application of power to the motor. A manual input is also provided for requesting a wheel/tire assembly mounted mode, the control circuit being responsive to a request for mounting mode to control the application of power to the motor such as to facilitate mounting of the wheel/tire assembly on the shaft.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a method of mounting a wheel/tire assembly on a wheel balancer is described. The wheel balancer includes a shaft adapted for receiving a wheel/tire assembly, the shaft having a longitudinal axis and being rotatable about the axis so as to rotate a wheel/tire assembly removably mounted thereon, and being at least partially threaded, a motor operatively connected to the shaft for rotating the shaft about its longitudinal axis, thereby to rotate the wheel/tire assembly, a control circuit for controlling the application of power to the motor, the method including the steps of rotating the motor under the control circuit at a relatively slow, tire mounting speed, manually placing a wing nut on the threaded portion of the shaft, and holding the wing nut in place on the shaft as the shaft rotates so as to move the wing nut along the threaded shaft.